EAU CLAIRE, Wis.—For the last week the Stingers have moved up the totem pole in the North Division, playing teams higher up in the standings each successive series. Willmar continued its road trip Thursday and faced one of the toughest tests of the season to date, but again came out on top, this time 5-3 over Eau Claire at Carson Park.

Heading into the game the Express trailed the Stingers for first place in the North Division by just two games, having won their last two games. But the Stingers entered the contest even hotter and could not be stopped even after Eau Claire scored the first run of the game.

TJ Whidby started for the Stingers and gave up some hard hit balls through the first two innings of the game, including the first run of the night in the second inning. But following two hits in the second inning, a sacrifice and a groundout that brought in the first run, Whidby settled in nicely over his final five innings of work and only gave three hits the rest of the way.

With the Stingers trailing 1-0, Whidby gave up a one-out single in the third, but quickly ended the inning on a tailor made double play ball to short.

In the next half inning Willmar's offense responded for its starter, and along with the first hit of the game in the top of the fourth, the Stingers also tied the game with their first run. Reagan Fowler laced a one-out single through the left side of the infield and moved to second with Nick Rivera's walk. David Parrett drove Fowler in from second with his single, one of his three hits during the game, with two out in the frame to knot the game at one.

Whidby and Eau Claire's starter Jeremy Bagnall duked it out over the next few innings with neither giving way in the pitcher's duel. Bagnall was the first one to break, as the Stingers reached him for a run in the seventh inning to take the lead for good. This time Parrett started the rally on a single. After Troy Kuhn struck out, Parrett swiped second base and moved to third on a throwing error on the same play with Max Dutto at the plate. Dutto then flied out to left field, deep enough to drive Parrett in from third.

However, the turning point in the game came in the ninth inning when the Stingers struck for multiple runs in their last at bats for the second straight night. This time Willmar notched three runs in the top of the ninth to open up a 5-1 lead, which proved critical come the last of the ninth.

Josh Matheson started his second inning of work in the bottom of the ninth and gave up a double and a walk to start the inning. He came back to get Express catcher Brent Gibbs to line out to Kuhn at third base, but when Kuhn tried to double Tyler Hermann off of second base, the throw got into the outfield and allowed Tyler Jones and Hermann to advance to second and third, respectively. A single and a sacrifice fly brought the game within 5-3, but Garrett Anderson came on to relieve Matheson and struck out Mike Porcaro to end the threat and the game.

TJ Whidby (1-1) picked up his first win of the season in his longest outing so far, while the loss got hung on Bagnall (1-1). Parrett went 3-3 at the plate for the Stingers, stole a base and also knocked in an RBI.

The 2014 Stingers season is presented by Charter. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune's website at wctrib.com.

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was David Parrett. CDI is your local medical imaging provider. It’s your choice where you go for medical imaging, for MRI, CT, mammograms and pain injections, choose CDI. Visit online at myCDI.com/CentralMN.